Why Do We Need Deadlines?

No matter the business you’re in or where you are in life, deadlines are crucial. Whether it’s paying a bill, writing a blog post or planning a trip, deadlines can help us stay on track. Deadlines help us project manage and prioritize the many things that require our attention on a daily basis. Deadlines are most effective when individuals are able to reward themselves for accomplishing something within the designated time frame.

While deadlines may not work for everyone, many people can benefit from prioritizing their schedule based on these due dates.

Harness Creativity

Deadlines can help us harness creativity; either in what we are doing or ways to get whatever we are doing done in time. With deadlines, we can provide ourselves with time for work and time for breaks, which allows us to improve productivity and creativity (ScienceDaily). Working for multiple hours straight due to procrastination or a busy day can impair the quality of work we get done. Deadlines can are one form of project management that can help us improve creativity and productivity as we allow ourselves time for breaks. If your deadline doesn’t allow for breaks, some people are able to produce and really focus with tight timelines. Understand when you conduct your best work and make sure you find a way to do it within the given time frame, whether that means multiple short breaks or one long one before really working to get things done.

Stop Excuses

Deadlines can help us avoid procrastination and plan ahead for any bumps that can take place. Meeting deadlines makes you appear more reliable. Paying bills or getting projects done on a regular basis within a given timeframe can make future delays easier to manage. A tight deadline can reduce wasted time. If you know the expectations that you must meet, either to yourself or someone else, excuses can stop being made and you can focus on what needs to be done. Without a deadline, it’s easy to make excuses about why things aren’t done. When possible, experiment with Parkinson’s Law – work expands to fill the time available for its completion – to see how much you can get done in an allotted period of time.

Improve Communication

If you’re working in a group, deadlines can help improve communications across the team. Because everyone has to work together to meet the deadline, good communication is imperative. One study found that teams made up of individuals with temporal reminders, e.g. deadlines, who start tasks early to finish early are better off. Failing to meet deadlines can result in a poor reputation among friends, coworkers, or even business clients. If one person cannot make a deadline, they need to communicate that with whomever they are aiming to meet the deadline for to see what can be done about rescheduling.

One of the most important aspects of setting deadlines is making sure the time frame is realistic. If you leave yourself a lot to do in not nearly enough time, deadlines won’t help you in any way. Setting realistic expectations and deadlines for those you work with and those around you can make your life more efficient. While some suggest deadlines don’t work, deadlines can be beneficial for most when they are realistic and allow for breaks to take place as creative juices stall or unforeseen events take place.